New drugs are the ones you hear about most. Drug companies can charge more for brand-new drugs before generics horn in on the territory, so it pays to advertise them and to fund studies that get doctors thinking about how great they are. Older drugs don’t get as much press.

Every time you hear that the market’s taking a downward turn, you get the itch to sell your stocks, cash out your investments, and hide in a hole, right? Turns out panic almost never helps investments.

What are the chances that your upcoming surgery will end in an unforeseen complication? That depends (in part) on the procedure, on the surgeon, and on you. ProPublica’s Surgeon Scorecard helps to put a number on the doctor’s piece of that puzzle.

No one wants to take a risk and fail. We all have an instinct to wait until something is a sure thing before taking the leap. However, that hesitancy can lead to missing out. Instead, take the risk once you’re sure you have a decent chance of succeeding.

It’s natural to be nervous about doing something when you’re unsure of the consequences. Waiting to be sure feels safer. However, certainty and risk are also opposites. You can’t take a risk if you’re sure of the outcome.

Invest your money the right way, and your overall risk should be pretty minimal. There are reasons for taking on riskier investments, though. Maybe you want to beef up your alternatives, for example. Whatever your reason, consider these factors beforehand.

Risks can be rewarding, but they can also be downright scary. It's not easy to break out of your comfort zone. But maintaining a few stable areas in your life makes it much easier to take risks in other ways. Author Ramit Sethi calls it the "tripod of stability."

Some jobs, activities, or tasks involve a certain amount of risk. When we first start the job, we're very aware of this risk, so we're cautious of it. But as time goes on, we get comfortable and forget about the dangers associated with the task. That's often when mistakes and accidents happen.

Plenty of choices in life can make us nervous or anxious. Choosing the wrong college, buying the wrong car, etc. However, not every uncertainty is necessarily a risk. Learn to tell the difference to make choices easier.

Designer and Author George Lois once said "You can be Cautious or you can be Creative (but there's no such thing as a Cautious Creative)." Basically, you can never innovate without taking a little risk. If you're being truly creative, there's always a chance your fresh idea will flop, or won't be doable, or otherwise…

Humans are terrible at evaluating and judging risk. We overestimate our chances of winning contests while underestimating the chance of something bad happening. Compensating for this natural tendency isn't easy, but the Wall Street Journal suggests one way to train your brain might be to track your skills like a…

Confidence is generally seen as a good thing, if not in excess. Although overconfidence can hurt us, the bizarre health blog The Body Odd argues that it can also help us in the right situations. Here's how.